Catching up

Well, I've not posted in over a week. Since the weather cooled down somewhat last week, we started working on outside projects. I've been helping DH with his, and done some of my own. Now is the time of year for us to do outside work, summers are for staying indoors as much as possible.

I have been using my bread machine more, and last night DH told me "You sure have been making some good bread. This is real bread." Now that made me feel great I can tell you that. No preservatives, and made with love and bread ingredients.

We watched Julie and Julia the other night and we both enjoyed it. I had wanted to see it for quite sometime. A friend of ours sent us a box of movies that they had duplicates of and this movie was one of them. DH and I both were very disappointed in the ending. It made us think that Julia was somewhat of a 'snob' to say the least, jealous of Julie and what she had accomplished. I felt really bad for Julie, but bless her heart she did her thing and had fun doing it, regardless of Julia. Like she said, Julia taught her to cook. It was still a great, funny movie.

I've got meat to cut up and pkg for the freezer today, plus we're going back to SAM's to get me another pair of terrasoles, ballerina style shoes. Bought one pair yesterday and I fell in love with them. I HATE clothes shopping, shoes included. These are adorable, to me, and DH likes them, he's the one that spotted them first, and they are so comfortable. I HATE wearing shoes, I'd much rather be barefoot, but unfortunately I can't go barefoot to work, or out anywhere.

Here are some of what's blooming in my gardens right now. Click on pictures for larger views.

The first several pictures are of Dwarf Poincianna. I love this little tree, grown from seed. Have 4-5 of them now.

Next, we have my latest gardening project. After cutting back some growth around the palm tree and placing the border/edging around it, DH thought it would be nice to make the area around the ficus - strangler fig - tree, look nicer, as I'd let it get rather overgrown. So, I started by pulling up the rock border, then started digging up and raking out things I don't want there. I've not done anymore than what these pictures show, because of helping DH with something else, and I worked at my job on Sat., and yesterday was our errand day which always wears us out.

You can see our cracked up patio stones. These pieces were all in a heap on the next street east of us as someone had broken the stones all up to get them out to be picked up by the trash people. Well, we picked up every piece that we could find, brought them home, and started putting the puzzle back together. I'll have to do a pictorial posting about that another time. :-)

Here is my light pink 4 o'clock.

These next pictures are of one of the passion flowers that grow here on our property.

New buds.

A fruit forming.

This was after the flower was gone.

And, last but not least, a Mexican Petunia bloom.
(Thanks for the heads up Florida Girl. I really do know that,
but for some reason I wrote Philippine Violet.)

I may not be posting as much, as I've been spending way too much time on the computer and things need doing around here. There's a dusting of dust, floors need cleaning, laundry needs to be folded and put away, more needs to be washed and hung out, I need to get my little embroidery pieces framed and backed, and work on more creations.

Which reminds me, one of these pieces, the last one I did, will be a give away, so stay tuned.

Speaking of embroidery, I could not figure out by reading how to make a bouillon stitch, and was getting very frustrated. DH said bring me a threaded needle and let me see if I can figure it out. As we were reading the directions and looking at the pictures, I realized what I had done wrong. I was holding the thread to the left instead of the right. We have said before among each other that I might have a mild form of dyslexia, or some such thing, as I do sometimes say exactly the opposite of what I mean, and it goes for reading certain things too, I see the opposite. I always had a problem with figuring out 'thought problems' in school. If I can see a thing done, I can usually get it. So, thanks to DH for showing me how to make a bouillon stitch. A guy who has never embroidered, but who does like figuring things out.

Hope you all have a great week whatever you are doing, wherever you are.

***

You can't force simplicity;

but you can invite it in

by finding as much richness as possible in the few things at hand.

Simplicity doesn't mean meagerness

but rather a certain kind of richness,

the fullness that appears when we stop stuffing the world with things.

Thomas Moore, The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life, p. 293

***

We should all do what, in the long run,

gives us joy,

even if it is only picking grapes

or sorting the laundry.

E.B. White

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL